ducker2010

I had my surgery on January 23rd. It took about a week to be able to sleep comfortably on my sides or roll over. But after that yes, no problem.

I just purchased some unjury products and tried them. I will be ordering more. unjury also makes a protein cheese sauce that you can pour over eggs or veggies. Very good. It's got 20 g protein per half cup.

I only had to do one day of Clear liquids. But like so many I had to do the two shakes and then the meat and veggies for dinner thing pre op. Plus one day of clear liquids. I think it's probably because of your liver. Just hang in there. I'm three weeks post op and I have a hard time getting all my fluids/food down. I'm only eating one pureed meal a day at this point. The worst thing you can do is sneak a bite of something. Because you know, for people like us, one bite is never enough.

I was banded a little less than three weeks ago. My husband and I kept my banding very quiet because we know some people can be very ugly. Today I got my first experience with ugly. There was a woman on my facebook page who was talking about this new fad diet she was doing and how much weight she had lost. I told her I had lost 18.5 pounds. She told me that was unsafe and asked how I was doing it. When I told her that I had the lap band done she said it's people like me who make her sick. It's easier for us to write a check than to get off our azz and go to the gym and quit stuffing our faces with comfort food. While I understand how she feels it's just not that easy. If there was an easier way I sure would have done it! Has anyone had to deal with this kind of thing before? How did you handle it? What did you say to the person?

I know there is still a lot of misinformation out there. My mom also thinks this way. That it's the easy way out. It is not. You know, I wish I could just get up and go work out at the gym. But I started at 301 and had severe arthritis in my knees. Some days it was all I could do to walk around the house! I had never even considered lap band until my knee surgeon suggested it to me. It sucks being fat and in pain all the time. It's a vicious circle and you need help breaking it. Even the 18.5 pounds I have lost have made a HUGE difference in my knees. People think this is the fast way to "get skinny". I wasn't even thinking about skinny. I was thinking about not hurting all the time! I know this isn't a cure all. Like I said I'm only three weeks in. Staying on the pureed foods has been a challenge but I'll do whatever it takes to get to where I need to go. Anyway, I guess this was challenge one in lap band world! Standing your ground against the nay sayers! Thanks all for your encouragement.

Thank you all. It was just so mean. And this was someone I thought was my friend. I knew there would come a day I had to deal with this but as ready as I thought I was I still wasn't ready. If that makes sense. And I totally understand. Even though I'm a "newbie" doesn't mean I don't understand the sacrifice. I gave up soda six months ago to prepare. I know there are foods I might not be able to eat forever more... I didn't think this would be a "cure all". But I was sick and damn tired of feeling hungry all the time, never feeling satisfied no matter what I ate. At least now, with the proper choices and lifestyle changes, I won't feel starving all the time. It's already made a huge difference.

I don't know that it's luck. I think some of it is actually head games with me. I simply know I'm "not allowed" this or that. I don't think it's easy. The other day I was pms'ing and wanted pretzels. There was a whole bag sitting in my pantry for the kids. I wanted to eat them so bad. But I didn't. I've suffered with excruiating arthritis in my knees for the last three years. I'm 20 years too young for double knee replacements. Some days I can barely walk. I've also always been heavy. My whole life I was overweight. Even as a child. I was fortunate our insurance paid for it or I'd never have been able to do it. I really do just look at this as something I am going to have to deal with. Giving up soda was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. For me, it was a food addiction. I gave it up six months ago and there are days I feel like a drug addict... Scouring places that might sell a can of soda. Sometimes I just find myself standing in the soda isle staring. But I haven't given in even once. I'm counting on the band to save my life. But in return I'm willing to do what I need to do to make it happen. Will I be perfect? No. But I'm going to try as hard as I can to be.

This was really well said. I hate to say it but I can't even imagine cheating. I'm three weeks post band and I'm just not hungry. I drink my shakes and eat my yogurt like instructed and can barely find the room for one tiny meal a day. I eat about three ounces of meat in the evening. That's it. They've told me I can have five small meals but at this point I can't even fathom that much in my stomach. Maybe I'm too anal but I just don't want to do anything at all to risk messing up my one and only chance at health.

Oh yes! Mother Nature came to visit me this week and I am not on solids. I really wanted to dive into a bag of pretzels. So much of our lives are tied to food. It's extremely hard to break those habits! It was all I could do not to go nibble on the bag in the pantry.

I did liquids for a week but honestly I didn't want food. I'm on pureed now for another three weeks. I'm really not having a problem. I'm full all the time just from the protein shakes. Just be honest with your doc. I think lying is the worst you can do.

Getting in the habit of drinking water is a good idea. You're going to have to get used to drinking a lot anyway. Might as well start now.

The pre diet is hard. I think a lot of it is a test to see if you'll be compliant when you have the band. I followed exactly what my Dr. said and only ate the approved stuff. I didn't really feel hungry. I will agree those two days before surgery on the clear liquids were horrible. My husband was eating Girl Scout cookies, my son eating a Big Mac, and I was drinking chicken broth. It was miserable.

The waiting is the hardest part!

From start to finish...9 months. They said I had to do 6 visits with my doctor. I did and filed. They turned it down because they considered the FIRST visit a consult. So I did another visit and submitted it. They turned it down again because they said the second visit wasn't detailed enough. At that point they got kind of threatening and said if I filed again they were going to withdraw my insurance. That's highly illegal. My husband reported them to the state insurer's board. Then I did another visit (eight in all) and we resubmitted the claim as a new claim. I was approved on my birthday and notified on Friday the 13th! I had my surgery done on January 23rd. It was a long process but totally worth it. I would tell others to keep fighting.

This went into effect the week I finished up my six month visit and got approved! Grrrrrrrr

As I said, I use the Target brand. I really like that brand but even it gets old sometimes. I've been told about the injury brand and am excited because people seem to like it. I ordered the sample packets today. Also, today I got some fruit to add to the shakes. I added a spoonful of peanut butter to it this morning and found that it really helped immensely. It took the nasty taste away. I didn't mind drinking it at all. It seemed to make it smoother too. But I did this in the blender. I'm only three weeks in and still experimenting.

One thing I've found is every is told different things by their surgeon. You just have to do what your doctor tells you and not worry about what everyone else is doing. Just follow your surgeons instructions.

Yeah, my stretch marks are definitely going to be way worse!

My BMI was 49 so I didn't have to have two comorbidities. I do have sleep apnea and high cholesterol though. We had a lot of problems with our insurance. They wanted my primary doctor to do six visits with me and they wanted really specific things noted in her report. Find out exactly what the insurance wants and make sure your doctor puts it in there.

I am two weeks post op and I have one large incision over my belly button and smaller one on my left side. Then three more "poke holes". One is under my breast. They're all healing really well. The biggest problem I have is that they gave me a lot of heparin in surgery (blood thinner) and I "leaked" for days. Plus they used dissovlable stitches and super glue to close them. So there's a lot of goop on top of each incision. But they look really healthy.

I have been using the Target brand of GNC. I am only allowed shakes with whey or soy isolate too. And they must contain no less than 20 g of protein per serving. I haven't found any of the brand names I like yet. I've heard good things about Unjury though and am going to order some this week.

We, my husband and I, told neither family. I never speak/see my family so that's not an issue. His family would have tried to talk me out of it. We just felt like this was a decision we made as a couple and wanted to keep it private for as long as we could. Kind of like getting pregnant! It will come out one day but by then I'll have more sucess behind me and will be fine.

I have the same issues with it clumping. I have the shaker bottle but I can never seem to get the clumps out. My husband shakes it for me when he's home and does a much better job. Using the blender works much better. I have a Ninja bullet. I also really hate the GNC brand. I got the Target brand and to me it tastes so much better. However, I've heard such goood things about injury I'm going to send off for some and see how it is. After only a month I'm tired of drinking a chocolate shake every day. Never thought I'd hear myself say that!